


Lensey's Fate (Karma's Back)

by Glitched_Fox



Series: 2017 BATIM Fics Upload [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: AU of an AU, Alternate Universe, Choking, Gen, Optic ink au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:19:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitched_Fox/pseuds/Glitched_Fox
Summary: While travelling Level 14, Lensey is quickly separated from Sammy. In blind fury, Sammy does some things he might come to regret.OR: Sammy learns what revenge is.---Part of the Optic Ink AU by metamatronic on tumblr.(Originally posted on October 20, 2017 to the Optic Ink server)





	Lensey's Fate (Karma's Back)

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, Lensey's Fate. This one will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my first BATIM fic, and the fact that I had been neglecting writing for a while before writing this shows, but it's still special to me. Not only was this my writing debute to... well, the world, considering this is first real fic I posted to more than one person, but it showed just how much I could break someone with just words. Angst is my strongest writing, and I know it.

“Now, I’m not lookin’ for trouble…”

“Hey, it’s Norman!” Sammy said happily, adjusting his position on the box.

Lensey, who had been scanning the area to make sure that there weren’t any enemies around, stiffened, back turned to Sammy.

“I remember this!” the musician continued, grinning. “I didn’t know the guy could voice act but man, he could sound sinister when he wanted to.” He trailed off, smile wavering. “I sure hope he’s alright… Maybe I did, but a lot people here didn’t deserve a fate like this. ‘Specially Norman.”

He curled up, tears forming in his eyes. “Makes me wonder why it was ME who got off easy.”

Lensey was trembling at this point. He turned back towards Sammy, light dimming so that he wouldn’t totally blind the human.

Sammy looked up, his frown quickly turning into a sad smile as he chuckled. “Are… Are you crying ink?”

Lensey hadn’t realized he was crying. In fact, he hadn’t been aware he could do that in this form- good to know that he could. In which case, the fact that the tears were ink made sense. He reached up a hand to his lens, feeling the watery ink.

Sammy tilted his head, reaching to his friend. “It’s alright, Lensey. I’m just worried.” It was true. Sammy was actually worried about Norman. That was fair, right? Someone could be concerned about a friend they hadn’t seen in awhile. What he didn’t understand was why Lensey was sad. Lensey, the guy who had survived on his own in the inky abyss, watched Sammy pass out countless times, stood over Sammy to protect him from Bendy, and had tackled Alice Angel herself, was crying over something as simple as someone being worried.

Lensey knew it didn’t make sense to Sammy. But it made sense to Lensey. He had been hiding who he was for so long. He felt bad. Yeah, he had done it to keep the former employee happy, but…

Well, no one could keep a secret forever.

Not even Norman Polk himself.

Lensey straightened up, a determined look coming into his lens. 

“Where are you going?” Sammy muttered.

Lensey turned, starting to walk away. Sammy sat up, alarmed.

"Hey, Lensey! You can’t just leave me here! I can’t move!” the human yelped, motioning to the floor around him, covered in the ink that caused him to black out whenever he touched it.

Lensey glanced back at his companion, his speaker emitting a reassuring static. He gave a quick thumbs-up and disappeared around the corner.

Sammy sat back, setting the tape recorder in his lap as he crossed his arms, pouting. “Fine, be that way.”

\------

Lensey made his way through the halls of Level 14 relatively quickly. He had been down here for a pretty long time before he ran into Sammy, so he had the layout of the place basically memorized. His speaker clicked while he thought.

He figured that it would be easiest to simply find a piece of paper and a pen (like those voices he and Sammy kept hearing suggested) and write down who he was. No dodging the question. Straight to the point, that was how he liked things. As for actually locating said supplies, he vaguely remembered there being something like that down here…

He stopped suddenly, turning his head. He could’ve sworn he saw something out of the corner of his limited vision. His clicking changed to a curious static as he started in that direction. He brightened his light a little as he searched.

A figure suddenly appeared in his vision and his static grew louder and higher-pitched in surprise. Lensey realized a few things in rapid succession:

1\. The figure was a male.  
2\. Said male seemed familiar, but Lensey didn’t have time to identify him.  
3\. He was holding something. Something that looked like-

That was a gun.

\------

Henry pressed himself against the wall, holding the tommy gun up in preparation. He peered around the corner, looking for the flickering light of the ink creature.

Alice had called this one The Projectionist. That worked, Henry supposed, given the thing had a projector for a head. He wondered if this creature was one of his former co-workers, like Sammy.

No, it couldn’t be. The Projectionist didn’t even go by a human name. At least Sammy had been easy to identify, what, with the voice and name and all.

Norman was the projectionist of the studio, a little voice whispered in Henry’s mind, Maybe that’s who it is.

Hmm…

Nah, couldn’t be. Norman was too smart of get caught up in all of this. Plus, he probably wouldn’t look like that.

Okay, so maybe Henry was getting off track trying to imagine what Norman would look like as an ink monster. But he was still pretty sure that The Projectionist was just a purely ink creature and not someone from the studio.

The animator froze as he heard a clicking noise. He wasn’t sure exactly what it is, but he could see the Projectionist’s light. He cocked the gun.

Maybe that clicking is just the sound of a broken speaker, and not anything sinister, the little voice whispered. Henry ignored it. The light flickered down the hall, and the clicking stopped, changing to static.

He pushed himself off the wall, raising the gun towards the creature’s lens, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see through the brightness of the light. The static grew.

I’m not going to die to this thing, he thought, and pulled the trigger.

_BANG!_

\------

_BANG!_

Sammy’s eyes widened as the sound of the gunshot echoed through the halls. “Lensey!” Sammy yelped, sitting up. He could hear more gunshot being fired, along with the screeches of Lensey. As the gunshots stopped, so did the shrieks.

He started to stand up, glaring at the ink surrounding him. He cursed, stepping off the box after a moment’s hesitation. There was a splash as he stepped into the ink. After a moment, he realized the ink wasn’t affecting him. Sammy didn’t know why, but he decided not to question it. The musician clenched his jaw and took off running in the direction he had seen Lensey go.

He rounded the corner, and froze.

Lensey was laying on the ground, lens cracked, bullet holes riddling his projector and inky form. His light flickered dimly, no sound coming from his speaker.

Sammy stepped forward. He dropped to his knees by the corpse, staring at it. His mind refused to register what had happened. He crouched over the fallen ink creature, no longer even caring about the ink swirling around him. Tears formed in his eyes as he suddenly started yelling.

“No no no no no! Not you too, Lensey! You can’t be dead! Not you, no no no no no!” He trailed off, words hitching in his throat as he sobbed. His head fell onto his arms, leaning on Lensey. He stayed there for a minute, feeling the weight of his emotions.

He couldn’t believe his friend was dead.

His cries died down, and he sat the in silence, barely aware of his surroundings. “Why would anyone do this?” he asked softly. Lensey’s light stopped flickering, shutting off for the last time.

It took everything Sammy had to not cry again.

He couldn’t stay here. There was too much ink, and whoever killed Lensey might still be around. He wished he could take Lensey’s corpse, give him a proper burial, but he knew he wasn’t strong enough. He wanted to take the projector, see if he could hook it up in one of the viewing room. He wanted to take the speaker, figure out why it only made static, whirring, and clicking noises.

He didn’t want to leave Lensey alone down here.

Mutely, he reached to the back of Lensey’s projector, finding one of the wires that dangled down and connected to his back. Sammy adjusted his grip on it and, with a bit of effort, managed to pull it out of its sockets.

He stood up, trembling, and looked at the wire. He bit his lip, twisting the wire tightly around his hand. As he started to walk away, he put his hand on the wall for support. One final time, he glanced over his shoulder, looking at his friend. He swallowed his sobs, and started running towards the stairs.

\------

Henry stepped into the lift, the doors closing behind him. Boris looked up, ears flat against his head in fear and guilt.

“It’s okay, Boris. I did what I had to,” Henry muttered. He sighed, clicking the button for Level 9.

Boris whimpered, gazing wistfully out at Level 14 until the lift started moving.

“What’s wrong?” Henry asked. The tommy gun was slung over his back. The toon shifted from foot to foot restlessly. “It was just another one of those ink monsters trying to kill me. They’re all the same.”

Boris crossed his eyes, growling slightly. The human chuckled. “I wasn’t talking about you.”

There was a quiet ding as the lift reached Level 9. He sighed, pressing the button to open the doors. “Well, let’s go deliver this to the Angel.”

\------

Sammy watched the two curiously. Henry, he remembered from the voice. And that had to be Boris, he was on the posters everywhere. Sammy had taken note of the gun Henry carried. He was just waiting…

Oh, a Searcher. Perfect. He ducked into a nearby room, knowing he wouldn’t have to watch.

When he heard the gun go off, Sammy almost cried again. All of his suspicions had been confirmed. Henry had killed Lensey.  
It was probably just a misunderstanding, said a little voice in Sammy’s mind.

Well, that still wasn’t an excuse to murder someone’s best friend.

Not that Henry had any way of knowing that Lensey was your friend, the little voice grumbled. Sammy told it to shut up.

He tugged at the wire he was holding. Yes, the one he had taken from Lensey. The door of the room he was in creaked open slowly, and Sammy scrambled to hide behind a shelf.

Henry entered the room, looking around. Boris followed behind. The animator turned to his companion. “Stay here, Boris. I need to go grab the pipe I was using earlier. Just in case.” The toon nodded, staying put as asked. The door closed as Henry left.

Sammy pulled the wire taut between his hands, standing up and stepping into the light, behind Boris. The wolf didn’t seem to notice, busy innocently counting the bacon soup cans that were stacked in the corner.

Sammy almost felt bad.

But hey, life has a funny way of serving up karma.

He raised the wire, bringing his hands closer together so that there was some slack. It wasn’t a rope, but it would do. He made a clicking sound, mimicking what he had heard Lensey’s speaker do so many times. Boris perked his ears. 

The toon turned his head. He was shocked to see Sammy, but he grinned. A new friend was always good. After a moment, he lowered his ears, whimpering. The other didn’t actually look very friendly…

Sammy grinned emotionlessly. “Here, boy,” he whispered menacingly. Boris took a step back, whimpering. But before he could do anything, Sammy lunged forward, wrapping the wire around Boris’s throat. The dog let out a choked yelp.

You shouldn’t be able to choke a toon, said that little rational voice.

Boris is breathing, therefore, I can choke him, Sammy thought. He tightened the loop around Boris neck, who continued trying to pry the wire and human away.  
Sammy steeled his expression as the whimpers slowly faded away. There was no longer a struggle happening.  
There was the sound of quick footsteps down the hall. Without a second thought, Sammy unwrapped the wire from the toon and took off running, sliding into the next room and blocking the door.

He sat against the wall and listened.

\------

Henry straightened up. The tommy gun was slung across his back, and he now had the pipe in his hand as well. He started slowly down the hall, retracing his steps back to where he had left Boris.

As he got closer, he suddenly stopped, hearing something. Was that…

Boris’s yelps. He had heard them before; the wolf must be in danger. Henry started walking a little quicker, wondering what could be threatening Boris. He rounded the corner. As he did, he could’ve sworn he saw something dart out of the room. Ah well. Must’ve been the light playing tricks on him.

Henry realized that Boris wasn’t making noise anymore, and frowned. He reached for the doorknob, opening the door completely. “Boris?” He froze, his eyes landing on the figure on the ground.

The toon was lying limp on the floor, not moving or making any noise.

“No, no, no, no,” Henry murmured, quickly kneeling by his fallen companion. “Boris? Boris, wake up. I need you. Please don’t be…” He bit his lip, attempting to keep himself from crying.

Henry covered his mouth with his hands, the realization settling in. A sob escaped him.

Boris was dead.

\---

Sammy almost laughed when he heard Henry calling Boris’s name, begging for him to be alive. In fact, he did chuckle. How did Henry like it, huh? Seeing his best friend dead on the ground, with nothing he could do about it.

The musician’s laughter died down, turning into silent crying. He dragged his knees up to is chest, curling into the fetal position. The adrenaline from the kill was wearing off, and Sammy suddenly felt exhausted.

“Hey, Lensey, I need your light,” he whispered wearily, crawling to his feet. He looked around the dark room. His eyes closed as he imagined Lensey still being there beside him, the light of the projector allowing the human to see better.

He kept his eyes closed. It was easier to pretend that way. “I think we can stay here for a little while. I need to rest, anyway. Keep an eye out for threats, will ya?”  
The imaginary Lensey nodded, his light flickering. An agreeable whir came from his speaker. Sammy grinned, curling up in the corner again. He opened his eyes, and the imaginary Lensey disappeared.

Sammy was alone in the dark room.

He bit his lip, hoping that the pain would distract him from his sorrow. It didn’t, and now he had a bleeding lip and more sadness. He realized the wire he had picked up earlier was still wrapped around his hand. He took it off, flexing his hand and staring at the red marks. He looked at the wire again. This thing had been pretty effective against a toon, so it could probably easily hurt a human… He touched his neck.

Is this what Lensey would’ve wanted? He asked himself.

Probably not.

But Lensey also wouldn’t have wanted to die.

He wrapped the wire around his wrist and tied it into a tight knot, testing it. His hand changed colors, signifying that the tied wire was successful in keeping blood from flowing. It could probably keep air from flowing too, then. He raised the wire to his throat, pulling it back, feeling it against his windpipe.

He mentally went through the pros and cons of going through with this.

The musician could think of almost no cons. Lensey was dead. Sammy and Henry probably hated each other at this point. Susie and Allison were Alice. Joey, Wally, Norman, all of the others, were gone. Even if they were still alive, it’s not like most of them cared about Sammy anyway. And he wasn’t getting out of this studio anytime soon, if ever.

Sammy sighed, lowering the wire. He couldn’t go through with this. Maybe tomorrow, he thought to himself. He wrapped the wire back around his hand. Sammy laid down. He started to hum, but the music was broken by his sobs.

He cried himself to sleep that night, never wanting to get up again.


End file.
